Love Story  (English, Paperback, Erich Segal)

Love Story is a best-selling novel by author and screenwriter Erich Segal who also wrote the screenplay for a movie of the same name.

Summary Of The Book

One of the highest selling fiction novels of all time and probably one of the most widely read romance novels, Love Story is a tale of how two people from very different worlds fall in love with each other and fight for their love.

The male protagonist of the book is Oliver Barrett IV, a student at Harvard Law School and the heir of a wealthy family. Jennifer Cavilleri, a music major at Radcliffe College, who is the daughter of a baker from Rhode Island is from a different world altogether. The book describes how such polar opposites can fall in love and how their unmatched passion dominates their lives and takes them on a beautiful yet tragic journey.

Characters in the book have also drawn inspiration from popular personalities Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones, who were roommates. The author met the two at Harvard in 1968.

Love Story sold more than 21 million copies and it was translated into more than 33 different languages. The book was released on Valentine’s Day in the year 1970 and was in The New York Times Best Seller list for a total of 41 weeks and reached the top spot too.

The book was based on the screenplay that author Erich Segal wrote for a movie of the same title that was released in December, 1970. He was asked by the studio, Paramount Pictures, to write the novelization of the movie to act as a preview of it.

About Erich Segal

Erich Segal is a popular writer, screenwriter and educator, who has written best-selling novels and hit motion pictures during his career.

The author’s other books include Prizes, The Class, Doctors, and Oliver’s Story.

Erich Segal has received a Master’s degree, as well as a doctorate at Harvard university, where many of his books are set. He was a professor of Greek and Latin and has taught at universities such as Harvard University and Princeton University. The late author had a wife and two daughters and died of Parkinson’s in the year 2010.